Monday, April 02, 2007

As some of you may remember in 2001 Barry Bonds was in the midst of breaking Mark McGwire's homerun record. He hit #71 & #72 on October 5th against the Dodgers. Bonds both broke and extended the record that night. He then finished the season, on October 7, with a deep blast to the rightfield corner, homerun #73, that was the impetus for the most contentious fight in Baseball fandome history. A Alex Popov reached up and snow-coned the ball, but landed in a heap as the delirious crowd fell over him. As he fell to the ground the ball came out of Popov's glove and a Patrick Hayashi ended up holding the prize. Almost immediately a controversy erupted. Long story short, Popov sued Hayashi for the ball and the drama was destined to last longer than anyone really wanted.

This movie is a hilarious story about the lawsuit and the characters surrounding it. I laughed, I jeered, and I laughed again. The irony, as I'm sure you know, is that the two parties, by court order, split the proceeds of the ball. (Which they should have done in the first place.) On top of that the verdict was read shortly after the Angels shocked the Giants by defeating them in game 7 of the 2002 World Series. WooHoo!

This is a great story that ends with an auction price that is less than spectacular and provides an inside look at how greed can often lead to bad results. I loved the film and would recommend it to anyone. Put it on your NetFlix list.Movie Link: Up For Grabs:

What a Shellacking. The Dodger tradition of losing on opening day resumes in earnest. This was the fourth straight year we've lost on this day. Oh well. Why buck custom?

Derek Lowe gets pounded for six earned runs in four innings of work. He was not impressive at all. On the other hand, Ben Sheets looked like a Cy Young candidate. In a complete game win he gave up just two hits. By the end of the eighth inning, Sheets had retired 21 batters in a row since Kent's homerun, and faced only 29 batters total in the game. It was as close to a perfect game as you'll ever see.

One bright spot was Mark Hendrickson. He gave up just one run, a homerun by Hall, in three innings.

Now to the important news, there are only 161 games left to go in the season.

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“There’s nothing like wearing a Dodger jersey. There’s nothing like it in sports. I don’t care that I’ve never been anywhere else. I don’t care. There’s nothing like wearing a Dodger jersey.” -- A.J. Ellis